Meditation is incredibly simple. You don't even need to sit. It's just a process of emptying through total relaxation/ surrender to things as they are appearing right now. Such a gem here.
Chögyam Trungpa & Rigdzin Shikpo 🙏🏻
The Way of Maha Ati
THE ALAYA
“THE GROUND of samsara and nirvana, the beginning and end of both confusion and realization, the nature of universal shunyata and of all apparent phenomena, more fundamental even than the trikaya because it is free from bias toward enlightenment, is the alaya, sometimes called the pure or original mind.
Although prajna sees in it no basis for such concepts as different aspects, yet three fundamental aspects of complete openness, natural perfection, and absolute spontaneity are distinguished by upaya as useful devices.
COMPLETE OPENNESS
All aspects of every phenomenon are completely clear and lucid. The whole universe is open and unobstructed, everything mutually interpenetrating.
Since all things are naked, clear, and free from obscurations, there is nothing to attain or to realize.
The nature of things naturally appears and is naturally present in time-transcending awareness.
The everyday practice is simply to develop a complete acceptance and openness to all situations and emotions and to all people, experiencing everything totally without mental reservations and blockages, so that one never withdraws or centralizes onto oneself.
This produces a tremendous energy which is usually locked up in the processes of mental evasion and generally running away from life experiences.
Clarity of awareness may in its initial stages be unpleasant or fear inspiring. If so, then one should open oneself completely to the pain or the fear and welcome it. In this way the barriers created by one’s own habitual emotional reactions and prejudices are broken down.
When performing the meditation practice one should get the feeling of opening oneself out completely to the whole universe with absolute simplicity and nakedness of mind, ridding oneself of all “protecting” barriers.
Don’t mentally split in two when meditating, one part of the mind watching the other like a cat watching a mouse.
One should realize that one does not meditate in order to go deeply into oneself and withdraw from the world.
Even when meditating on chakras in Buddhist yoga there is no introspective concentration—complete openness of mind is still the keynote.
NATURAL PERFECTION
Everything is naturally perfect just as it is, completely pure and undefiled.
All phenomena naturally appear in their uniquely correct modes and situations, forming ever-changing patterns full of meaning and significance, like participants in a great dance.
Everything is symbol, yet there is no difference between the symbol and the truth symbolized.
With no effort or practice whatsoever liberation, enlightenment, and buddhahood are already fully developed and perfected.
The everyday practice is just ordinary life itself. Since the underdeveloped state does not exist, there is no need to behave in any special way or to try to attain or practice anything.
There should be no feeling of striving to reach some exalted goal or higher state, since this simply produces something conditioned and artificial that will act as an obstruction to the free flow of the mind.
One should never think of oneself as “sinful” or worthless, but as naturally pure and perfect, lacking nothing.
When performing meditation practice one should think of it as just a natural function of everyday life, like eating or breathing, not as a special, formal event to be undertaken with great seriousness and solemnity. One must realize that to meditate is to pass beyond effort, beyond practice, beyond aims and goals, and beyond the dualism of bondage and liberation.
Meditation is always perfect, so there is no need to correct anything. Since everything that arises is simply the play of the mind, there are no bad meditation sessions and no need to judge thoughts as good or evil. Therefore one should not sit down to meditate with various hopes and fears about the outcome—one just does it, with no self-conscious feeling of “I am meditating,” without effort, without strain, without attempting to control or force the mind, without trying to become peaceful.
If one finds one is going astray in any of these ways, stop meditating and simply rest and relax for a while before resuming.
If one has experiences that one interprets as “results,” either during or after meditation, do not make anything special of them, but just observe them as phenomena. Above all, do not attempt to repeat them, since this opposes the natural spontaneity of the mind.
ABSOLUTE SPONTANEITY
All phenomena are completely new and fresh, absolutely unique at the instant of their appearance and entirely free from all concepts of past, present, and future, as if experienced in another dimension of time.
The continual stream of new discovery and fresh revelation and inspiration which arises at every moment is the manifestation of the eternal youth of the living dharma and its wonder, splendor, and spontaneity are the play or dance aspect of the universe as guru.
Learn to see everyday life as a mandala in which one is at the center, and be free of the bias and prejudice of past conditioning, present desires, and future hopes and expectations.
The figures of the mandala are the day-to-day objects of one’s life experience, moving in the great dance or play of the universe, the symbolism by which the guru reveals profound and ultimate meaning and significance. Therefore be natural and spontaneous, accept and learn from everything.
See the ironic, amusing side of irritating situations.
In meditation see through the illusion of past, present, and future. The past is but a present memory or condition, the future a present projection, and the present itself vanishes before it can be grasped.
Free oneself from past memories of, and conceptions about, meditation. Each moment of meditation is completely unique and full of the potentiality of new discovery, so one is incapable of judging meditation by past sessions or by theory.
Just plunge straight into meditation at this very moment with one’s whole mind and be free from hesitation, boredom, or excitement.
THE PRACTICE OF MEDITATION
It is traditional, and best if possible, to sit cross-legged when meditating, with the back erect but not rigid. However, it is most important to feel comfortable, so it is better to sit in a chair if sitting cross-legged proves painful.
One’s attitude of mind should be inspired by the three fundamental aspects, whether the meditation is with or without form, although in the latter case the three aspects constitute the whole meditation itself, with particular emphasis on complete openness.
Meditations with form are preceded by, followed by, and contain periods without form and similarly it may often prove desirable, if not essential, to precede a period of formless meditation by a period with form.
To provide for this eventuality many preliminary meditations have been developed over the centuries of Buddhist practice, the most important classes being meditations on breathing, mantra repetitions, and visualizations.
The second and third of these classes need personal instruction from one’s guru before they can be attempted, but a few words on the first would not be out of place here, since the method used varies little from person to person.
First, let the mind follow the in-and-out rhythm of the breath until it becomes calm and tranquil; then rest the mind more and more on the breath until one’s whole being seems to be identified with it.
Finally, become aware of the breath leaving the body and going out into space and gradually transfer the attention away from the breath and toward the sensation of spaciousness and expansion.
By letting this final sensation merge into complete openness, one moves into the sphere of formless meditation proper.
In all probability the above descriptions of the three fundamental aspects and the meditation practices involved will seem very vague and inadequate.
This is inevitable since they attempt to describe what is not only beyond words but beyond thought, and invite practice of what is essentially a state of being.
The words are simply a form of upaya (i.e., skill in means), a hint, which if acted upon may enable the innate natural wisdom and the naturally perfect action to arise spontaneously.
Sometimes in meditation there is a gap in normal consciousness, a sudden complete openness.
This only arises when one has ceased to think in terms of meditator, meditation, and the object of meditation. It is a glimpse of reality, a sudden flash which occurs at first infrequently and then gradually more and more often. It may not be a particularly shattering or explosive experience at all, just a moment of great simplicity.
Do not make the mistake of deliberately trying to force these experiences to recur, for this is to betray the naturalness and spontaneity of reality.”
♦️
~ from THE COLLECTED WORKS OF CHÖGYAM TRUNGPA VOLUME ONE
https://www.shambhala.com/the-collected-works-of-chogyam-trungpa.html
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The Bardo
BY Chögyam Trungpa & Rigdzin Shikpo
“Of all the teachings associated with the name of Tibetan Buddhism, perhaps the best known is that of the so-called Tibetan Book of the Dead. The title is entirely of Western coinage and bears no relation to the Tibetan title, bar do’l thos grol, “Liberation by hearing while between two (states).” As the Tibetan title suggests, the contents are much more profound and of much more general application than a mere description of an after-death state and a guide through its difficulties. This work was composed by Guru Rinpoche and made into a terma by him, to be later discovered by the Nyingma tertön Karma Lingpa.
Since Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and Francesca Fremantle have retranslated this text, I thought it might be of interest to present a commentary based upon some notes given by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche when he lived in Britain. I suggest that they be read in conjunction with Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche’s commentary in his new translation, and that any apparent conflict be treated as an error of my own, not as implying any ambiguity in the teaching.”
~ RIGDZIN SHIKPO 1976
THE ALAYA
The alaya is the ground of origin of samsara and nirvana, underlying both the ordinary phenomenal world and thetrikaya. Since it is more fundamental than either, it has no bias toward enlightenment or nonenlightenment.
It has within it the living, creative energy of the dharma, manifesting as the two aspects of prajna (wisdom, intelligence) and karuna (love, compassion), and the realization of the identity of samsara and nirvana, which is called “the wisdom of the alaya,” the alayajnana.
As a simplification one may take the essence of the basic qualities of the alaya to be the following five buddhas:
1. Vairochana (“The Luminous One”); white; east; hatred (dvesha); water, flowing; peace in the alaya.
2. Ratnasambhava (“The Jewel Born”); yellow; south; pride (mana); earth, solidity; richness in the alaya.
3. Amitabha (“Infinite Light”); red; west; passion (raga); fire, warmth, compassion power in the alaya.
4. Amoghasiddhi (“Complete Fulfillment of All Action”); green; north; paranoia (irshya); air, energy; volition, karma in the alaya.
5. Samantabhadra (“The All-Good”); blue; center; delusion (moha); space, all-pervading openness; neutral ground in the alaya.
The creative energy of the alaya became so strong that it broke away from the alaya and became avidya, just as a light may become so bright that it dazzles and causes confusion, or someone may be so overintelligent that he sees difficulties where there are none, or so overimaginative that he creates fearful illusions where none exist.
This avidya ignores the wisdom of the alaya, the alayajnana, and from the resulting confusion the sound or negative alaya, the alayavijnana is produced.
The evolution of the kleshas from avidya takes place in the following manner.
The overpowerful creative energy breaks away from the alaya and becomes avidya (or moha), which ignores or forgets the alaya. This is the first establishment of the ego, and from itfear springs when one realizes that one is an individual and alone.
As a defense against this fear, pride (mana) arises and the ego becomes fully developed.
Next comes paranoia (irshya), the need to protect oneself from others, and out of a desire for security to try to make gains at others’ expense.
In order to increase security, desire (raga, trishna, lobha) appears in all its forms, and one accumulates more and more of that which establishes one’s position in samsara.
Finally, hatred (dvesha) arises, which is the development of extreme self-assertiveness, where one leaves no room for doubt about one’s motives or actions and allows no relaxation in one’s attitude.
The evolution of the kleshas and the production of the alayavijnana from the overpowerful creative energy of the alaya is likened to water changing into ice.
Just as when water becomes ice this does not indicate either a deficiency in the nature of water or that ice is of a nature different from water, so for example when the active element within compassion is misrepresented by avidya or when a fascination for it arises, its transformation into passion (raga) does not change its underlying nature of compassion.
This is why the kleshas are identical to the qualities of the five buddhas.
One must not think that this process of breaking away from the alaya and the consequent evolution of the kleshas is something that happened long ago, like a creation myth describing the origin of the universe.
On the contrary, it is happening continuously, throughout time, for at every moment the kleshas evolve from the alaya due to its overpowerful creative energy, and dissolve back into it at the dissolution of that moment.
Of this continual process we are usually quite unaware, and it is the purpose of maha ati practice to experience it.
This can be done in many ways, of which the most important are the yoga of continual relaxed awareness of all experience(leading to a return to the alaya in meditation and everyday life), dream yoga (returning to the alaya during sleep), and yoga practiced at the moment of death and beyond.
The process of return to the alaya may be described in four stages, each of which is associated with a particular state of clarity, a particular depth of shunyata, and a particular state of being.
The first stage is likened to moonlight and is associated with the kleshas rooted in dvesha. Its state of clarity is called aloka, its shunyata is simple shunya, and its state of being is smriti, or awareness.
As the emotions based on dvesha cease to function, the second stage arises, likened to sunlight, and associated with raga. Its state of clarity is alokabhasa, its shunyata is called atishunya, and its state of being is vismarana, or nonawareness.
As the emotions based upon raga cease, the third stage arises, likened to the darkness before dawn, and associated with avidya or moha. Its state of clarity is called upalabdha (or alokopalabdha), its shunyata is mahashunya, and its state of being is anutpada, or unborn.
As the state based upon moha or avidya ceases, the final stage arises, likened to a bright, cloudless sky. This is the final state of clarity, prabhasvara, gone beyond shunyata (and therefore called sarvashunya), and corresponding to the state of being of matyatita, gone beyond the mind, which is the alaya itself.
It will be obvious that this procedure of return to the alaya is accompanied by the disappearance of the kleshas in reverse order to their appearance.
Just as fear was the first reaction to arise when the breaking away from the alaya took place, so it tends to be the last barrier to the return to the alaya. As one begins to return to the alaya, fear may arise due to a sensation of impending annihilation, and this fear must be fully entered into before the return can be accomplished.
If, due to fear, one turns away from the alaya, one recapitulates the evolution of the kleshas and passes through the above four stages in the reverse order.
THE MEANING OF BARDO
The Tibetan word bar do literally means “between two,” and although it is popularly taken to refer to the after-death state, its principal meaning is the moment between the evolution and dissolution in the alaya, the nowness in every moment of time, the continually moving point between past and future.
Thus bardo occurs at every moment of time, and to understand it is to understand the development of consciousness.
At every moment there is an opportunity to understand bardo, and the key to its understanding is nowness.
This principal meaning of bardo is sometimes called the bardo of existence, the sipa bardo (srid pa bar do).
There are six types of bardo:
1. Bardo of existence (bardo as experienced at every instant of time).
2. Bardo of birth (bardo as experienced at the moment of conception or reappearance in a particular loka).
3. Bardo of dream (bardo as experienced during sleep).
4. Bardo of life (bardo as experienced in the waking state).
5. Bardo of death (bardo experienced at the moment of death).
6. Bardo of the after-death state (bardo as experienced after the moment of death and before conception or reappearance in a particular loka).
The states of experience in (2)–(6) above each have distinctive characteristics that make them naturally seem uniquely different, but (1) is the underlying state which is always present and common to all, that is, the evolution fromand the dissolution back into the alaya that proceeds all the time without stopping; the sleeping state, the waking state, the death state, and so on, are just particular modes of this process.
The bardo of existence has already been dealt with in some detail, and the bardo of life is simply the nowness of everyday life.
The bardo of dream consists of two parts, the first being the falling into a deep, dreamless sleep, and then the state of dreaming proper.
As one falls into dreamless sleep one returns to the alaya, passing through the four stages, but the mind is usually too dull to recognize this.
After a while one leaves the alaya and emerges into the dream state, and the bardo is then the nowness of this state.
Finally one needs to consider the bardos of death, afterdeath, and birth which are examined in the next section.
THE BARDOS OF DEATH, AFTER-DEATH, AND BIRTH
At the approach of death the body begins to lose its constituent elements, and the first of these to dissolve is the earth element, causing the body to feel increasingly heavy.
Then the water element dissolves and this is accompanied by a feeling of great thirst.
Finally the fire element dissolves and one feels cold and sees flames.
After the dissolution of the elements, the essences of father and mother appear as the white and red bindus, the white coming down from above, the red rising from beneath, the two emotionally symbolizing duality.
One feels trapped between the red and the white bindus, and as they approach each other, the feeling of duality begins to disappear and the fear of annihilation is experienced, because one is returning through the four stages to the origin, the alaya.
At the moment of the joining of the red and white bindus, duality ceases and the state of prabhasvara, the origin or alaya, is experienced, and remains for a certain period of time. This is the bardo of death.
If instructed by a teacher previously (or even if one has only read of it in a book), it becomes the meeting of the mother light (the light of the alaya, the light of the ground, always present whether one realizes it or not) and the child light (the light arising from practicing the path, that is, the clear awareness of the first three stages), and the merging of the two is called the light of fruition.
Even if fear is not overcome during the merging of the red and white bindus, it may vanish here, during the realization of prabhasvara.
A realization at this time is called the “sudden path,” attained without going through the six paramitas.
However, if one’s understanding is only partial or nonexistent, one’s fear becomes so great that one rejects the alaya and duality rearises, one passes through the three stages in reverse order and then due to old patterns of habit, karma, and memory one finds oneself possessed of a mental body resembling one’s physical body and the experiences of the afterdeath state begin, the bardo of the after-death state being the nowness of these experiences.
First dawns the vision of the five buddhas, the projection of the mind’s underlying nature. Although peaceful they are very bright and the intensity of the light causes great awe to arise. These ultimate lights give no feeling of comfort or security (they correspond to maharaga, mahadvesha, and so on) and the experience of shunyata that they evoke may be frightening, so that one loses this opportunity for realization.
Because of fear of the intensity of the ultimate lights, one turns away from them and moves toward the dull lights that now appear.
Thus, failing to understand the five peaceful buddhas, one sees these buddhas in their wrathful forms, and the sudden shock of their appearance may bring realization.
If not, one becomes aware of friends, houses, children, animals, and so on, offering help and security, and by becoming attracted toward them and trying to escape from the terrifying mental images that one sees, one loses the memory of one’s former physical body and inclines toward a future life in one of the six lokas.
The six lokas themselves are mental projections, and are formed according to our own emotional reactions. For example, our own projection of pleasure becomes the deva loka, our own projection of hatred the hells, and so on, the particular kind of hell experienced depending upon the form of one’s hatred.
Thus the six lokas are like dreams, the hells like nightmares, and so on.
However, the hells and heavens differ from an ordinary dream in that since there is no physical body to act as an anchor, one gets caught up in one’s own projection and the situation becomes completely real and vivid, and the intensity so great as to constitute a virtually timeless moment of pain and pleasure, which corresponds to those vast lengths of time for which life in these worlds is said to last.
The nowness of the moment of one’s conception or appearance in the loka to which one has been attracted is the bardo of birth.
BARDO MEDITATION
Bardo is something that is meant to be practiced, not just a theory.
It only has meaning if one practices bardo meditation in this life.
All forms of bardo meditation are part of maha ati yoga. There are five main types, the last often being considered a yana in its own right.
Seeing the Kleshas as Enlightenment
Be aware of the development, the building-up of a particular klesha, that is, anger, desire, and so on, and its occurrence as a series of waves.
With awareness one can realize shunyata at the peak of each wave.
Also become aware of the energy in dvesha, the love and compassion in raga, the equanimity and nonaction in avidya, and so on.
Each positive quality is an expression of the creative energy within the klesha, an aspect of prabhasvara.
Seeing the Five Skandhas as Five Buddhas
All that one experiences can be broken down into a particular configuration of the five skandhas. Each of the skandhas must be seen as one of five buddhas, thus:
Samantabhadra as vijnana skandha
Vairochana as rupa skandha
Ratnasambhava as vedana skandha
Amitabha as samjna skandha
Amoghasiddhi as samskara skandha
or as mandalas of five buddhas.
The skandhas may appear as buddha forms, buddha lights, or as the buddha essences of the five jnanas.
Continual Relaxed Awareness of All Experience
By continual relaxed awareness of all experience, by becoming increasingly open and entering into it, one develops a direct contact with experience, a realization of nowness.
This has a shock effect, since it takes one back to the original alaya, the prabhasvara, which produces a fear reaction.
One must then enter into this fear and identify with it.
Dream Yoga
As one falls asleep, the activity part of the five skandhas becomes passive due to avidya.
In nonaction, the activity part of the five skandhas also becomes passive, but this time due to the creative energy within avidya.
One returns to the alaya, the prabhasvara, as one falls into deep sleep and remains there for a while.
One can become aware of this return to the alaya during sleep if there is continual relaxed awareness and openness in everyday life and the intention to be aware of the deep sleep state during the day.
The dream state is like the after-death state, unstable and unpredictable.
If there is continual relaxed awareness and openness in everyday life, and the intention to be aware of one’s dreams during the day, coupled with comparing the sameness of dreams and the waking state, that is, the dreamlike nature of the waking state and the realness of the dream state, one will eventually be able to be aware of one’s dreams.
One then practices by changing the nature of the dream images, for example, one may deliberately jump over a cliff, leap into a fire, turn fire into water, visit a pure land, and so on, until eventually one can control one’s dreams.
Finally one will be able to control the dreamlike quality of the waking state also.
Intense Bardo Meditation
Since this meditation, which may be taken to constitute a yana in its own right, the yangti yana, cannot be understood without a knowledge of certain maha ati terms, it is best to consider it in a separate section.
YANGTI YANA
Before one can understand this yana or this meditation one must be familiar with the maha ati terms trechö (“direct cutting” khregs chod) and törga (“instantaneous attainment”; thod rgal).
Trechö is the “sudden path,” achieving realization of the alaya without going through the six paramitas. It emphasizes prajna, the shunyata beyond shunyata, the primordial space quality and the stillness of meditation, and its nature is nowness. It is the negative aspect of nirvana at its highest level.
Trechö is the beginning of atiyoga, and in it one’s being becomes the formless meditation itself.
Mahamudra is an aspect of trechö, but still has some involvement with form.
Törga is the highest path, the highest possible kind of attainment, surpassing all others. It is seeing the whole universe as meaning (jnana) and symbol (kaya), and realizing that kaya and jnana are identical.
It emphasises upaya and prabhasvara, and is just beingness, with no subject or object. It is the positive aspect of nirvana at its highest level.
Törga is the final stage of atiyoga, being like a result rather than a practice. In it one becomes aware of the identity of the external light (kaya) and the internal light (jnana) and their connection with the five buddhas, the five lights, and the five jnanas. (Refer to “Seeing the Five Skandhas as Five Buddhas” above.)
Both trechö and törga are completely effortless and formless.
They always go together, and are interdependent, although a particular meditation may incline more toward one than the other.
The seven-week bardo meditation called yangti (“beyond ati”) is the major törga meditation, and is even thought of as a yana in itself, the yangti yoga beyond the ninth yana, atiyoga. By practicing it one attains the rainbow body, or jalü (’ja’ lus), which arises from the complete identification of mind (jnana) and body (kaya). This causes the physical body to vanish, first becoming smaller in size until only the hair and nails remain, which then may finally disappear completely, perhaps in the manner of fire or as light.
Essentially the yangti meditation is an intense form of bardo meditation, producing similar effects to those experienced during and after death. It is practiced in complete darkness, the darkness being used instead of light; in this respect it differs greatly from other meditation practices.
Yangti is thought to be extremely dangerous, and facilities for performing it were only available at two or three meditation centers in Tibet.
Every prospective practitioner had to undergo months of preparation and was not allowed to attempt it until he was judged mentally and physically ready.
When he was ready he was left in a meditation cell from which light was gradually excluded until at the end of a week he was in complete darkness.
At first he felt depressed and fearful, but gradually learned to live in the dark.
Every day his guru visited him to give meditation instruction and advice. The instructions were the same as those given to a dying person, and did not involve visualizations, although mental imagery appeared spontaneously; for example, the appearance of wrathful jnana eyes played a part in the practice.
At a later stage the guru’s visits were vitally important, since otherwise the meditator would lose complete touch with reality, forgetting who he was and what he was doing, and being unable to remember his past in any coherent way.
Eventually the dualistic concept of light and dark was lost, and everything was seen in a blue light.
He saw his own projections appearing as five buddha forms (lower), or as five buddha lights (medium), or as the essences of the five jnanas (higher).
It is usual to see the blue light first; it then changes to a different color depending upon how the meditator broke away from the alaya (for example, one might go from blue to white [peace], then to yellow, and so on).
It is a dangerous thing to become fascinated by the colored figures, mental imagery, and visions one may see and then tostart deliberately projecting them. There is an oral tradition in Tibet that this fascination can lead to such a withdrawal from reality that one mentally creates a world of one’s own and physically enters a state of suspended animation resembling hibernation.
As the meditation proceeds one passes through the stages described in “The Bardos of Death, After-Death, and Birth” above.
The meditation lasts for a nominal period of seven weeks, as in the bardo, but it may in fact vary from a few days to a few months, depending upon the person.
At the end of the meditation the light is gradually readmitted until after a week the windows are completely uncovered and the meditator may leave his cell.”
♦️
~ from THE COLLECTED WORKS OF CHÖGYAM TRUNGPA VOLUME SIX
https://www.shambhala.com/the-collected-works-of-chogyam-trungpa.html
I want to hold this thing because it had properties of money and increasing my bargaining power in the future. I am going to hoard it until people demand to be paid in this ideal money for their goods/ services. The incentive at the beginning for me as someone with information asymmetry is to collect as much as possible and not let it go. It becomes a medium of exchange when people demand that I give up some of my superior money for their goods and services if I really want what they have.
There are steps in the monetization process and while the lines can be blurred like for example someone with information asymmetry has fully adopted bitcoin as unit of account, store of value, even if not using it as medium of exchange yet.
